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my pregnant lionhead bunny

22 10:16:17

Question
Hello, my house bunny is about 2 years old,i had no intension on her getting pregnant, my sister looked after her over a month ago while i went away for the week, she has a dwarf buck and told me shed kept them apart but i took my bunny to the vets on monday concernd about this fantom pregnany as it was on a much larger scale then anyother time,and was told shes pregnant, ive sorted a nest box and shes prepared it her self but i dont no when shes going to go into labour, this morning shes lost a little discharge like an orangebrwn colour then a little bout 6 hours later, i thort she might be in labour but that was 6 1/2 hours ago, could u tell me if shes going to have them soon? if u look closely the babys are moving quite alot but slowely, much appreciated,katie.

Answer
Dear Katie,

When a rabbit starts to give birth, it usually happens quite quickly.  If she appears to have been in labor for more than six hours, it might be time to get her to a good rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

for a shot of oxytocin, and possibly a Caesarian section if the babies are too large for her to deliver vaginally.  The C-section should be accompanied by a spay, of course.  No sense in putting her through surgery twice!

Spaying will not affect her milk production, as this is controlled by the hormone prolactin, produced in the pituitary, not the uterus or ovaries.  So if she *does* have to be spayed, she should still be able to feed her babies after a short recovery period.  But before that, you might have to step in.  Here are instructions:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html

and here are general instructions for making this as safe and stress-free as possible:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/surpriselitter.html

And after all this, I really think you should send your sister all the
vet bills.  :(

I hope everything will be fine, and mama and babies will be well.

Good luck!
Dana